Houdini

Rating:
Summary: interesting republished photos of Houdini and his life
Review: a work of republished and copied photos of Harry. Its nice to have them all together and even some photos that are not found elsewhere. The publisher and or author would have more praise if the photos were clearer and more refined and not so dark . Some looked as if they were photocopied out of someone elses photocopy book.... I would have liked to compare this edition with first printing to see if there was a difference.. many other books with some of the same photos show a definite clarity in reproduction.

Rating:
Summary: good content...b/w illus.
Review: excellent info on Houdini...be aware that all illus. are black/whit

Rating:
Summary: Great Photos, Fair Reprint
Review: This book is a reprint of Christopher's "Houdini A Pictorial Life" published in 1976. Compared to the original, it's a rather poor reprint. The quality of the B&W photos are much degraded and one of the original book's two color pages is now B&W (the other is missing entirely). Still, the photos in this book - many showing Houdini in action - are terrific and very rare. The original book can be hard to find and tends to sell for $30 and up. But if you're going to hunt (and pay) then hunt down instead "Houdini His Legend and His Magic" by Doug Henning. This is the best of the four "coffee table" size Houdini books done in the late '70s. If you're looking for a definitive Houdini biography (more content than photos) I recommend "Houdini! The Career of Ehrich Weiss" by Ken Silverman.